Tempted
by Darth Synkka
Summary: After the death of Darth Revan, her apprentice Darth Malak is on a mission to bring the Republic to its knees. It's Bastila Shan's job to stop Malak before it's too late and there is no Republic left to save. Scout Alexie Degana has nothing to do with this Jedi/Sith stuff, she's just along for the ride. Or is she? Rated T full summary inside. I do not own. Belongs to Bioware and LA
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I don't own kotor or star wars**

I was at the end of my shift in maintenance, thank the Force. I was really tired and just needed some sleep. The droids were in constant need of memory wipes and repairs, I had been working long hours the past few days and I had been having lots of crazy dreams lately. I should have just stuck to exploring and treasure hunting. At least that was exciting. I know the Republic's doing its best with the war against Darth Malak sucking them dry and all, but it would be nice to get paid a little more. I stifled a yawn as I fixed another one of the combat droids and decided it could wait until my shift tomorrow. I yawned again making no attempt to hide it and stretched my arms above my head. I put away my tools and left maintenance.

As I walked to the dormitory, I noticed a few Jedi walk by me. I didn't have a great love of Jedi or their council, but they could at least _try_ to get along the engineer who makes sure everything's working properly. Not that I found it difficult to find something valid to argue with them about. Just yesterday I got into a heated debate with one of the Jedi about the ticks in the power couplings. The ship had been in a couple of minor fire fights with some Sith fighters (which was to be expected since we were a Republic warship headed to Taris to break the Sith blockade there) and the Endar Spire wasn't liking it. The fighters got a few lucky hits on the ship and then she started to fall apart. Thankfully, we managed to fix it...mostly. The Endar Spire still worked just fine but there were still some minor systems that needed some repairs. Not that those systems were all that important; we could still hold up if we got attacked again.

One of the Jedi walking by blocked my way, forcing me to stop. Her intense grey eyes locked with my gold ones. I'd seen her around plenty of times. She was the Jedi I argued with yesterday. She looked about twenty-years-old and, though her face was devoid of most emotion and had a snobbish look to it, her eyes told a different story. There was a pain inside them that I couldn't describe but could easily understand. It was the kind pain one only felt if they lost someone very close to them. Maybe this woman lost a close friend in the war against Malak?

"Why aren't you fixing the last of the damaged systems?" she asked.

"Because they are working just fine. Besides, we're pretty much there and those systems won't have any effect on any battles we may get in anyway." I yawned again but this time I really couldn't stifle it. The best I could do was covering my mouth with my hand. The woman and the other two Jedi looked highly offended that I wasn't taking all my time to fix everything completely.

The black-haired Jedi woman that was standing beside the grey-eyed Jedi opened her mouth as if to say something but she was interrupted by a brown-haired man, who looked like he was well into his thirties. It was Commander Onasi. I'd heard about the Commander but I never actually met him before now. He was an ace pilot and was rewarded several times for his bravery in the Mandalorian Wars.

"Bastila, we've got a problem!" he yelled, looking scared as hell. The woman with the grey eyes looked at the Commander with an expression of bewilderment across her face. Bastila? As in...Bastila _Shan_? I heard quite a bit about her though it was just vague rumours in cantinas and later on, from other soldiers. How could I not? She was the captain of the Endar Spire, after all and she was apparently the Jedi who fought and killed the Dark Lord Revan, Malak's Sith Master. Although, I had to admit, I was not entirely sure how true that was. I mean, if what I heard about Revan was true, then she was a strategic genius and had some serious dark mojo. Bastila's face suddenly looked worried.

"What is it, Carth?" she asked. Commander Onasi looked at me and his facial expression changed to a much more… professional look.

"You should come to the bridge. We'll talk about it there." Whatever was going on, it must have been too important for a lowly maintenance officer to hear.

"You work in maintenance, don't you?" Carth asked me.

"Yes, I'm actually the maintenance officer," I explained.

"You look pretty tired, Officer..." He drawled as if trying to remember my name.

"Alexie Degana and yes, I've been working longer hours since that last fight with those Sith fighters," I replied honestly. I only recently became the maintenance officer but I've always been put with the engineers because of my natural knack for droids and machinery in general.

"You'll need rest for when we get to Taris, Officer Degana; dismissed."

"Whatever you say, Commander," I said with a smile as I walked away. I turned my head to see Bastila's eyes widen in terror and the entire group rush to the bridge. What the hell was going on? I shook my head and decided not to think about that right now. I needed to go back to my dorm and sleep. I walked to the dormitory and opened the door to my room to find that my friend and bunk mate Trask Ulgo had already gone for his shift. When I got transferred onto the Endar Spire, I was already friends with Trask and he was totally cool with me taking the other bunk. We worked opposite shifts so it wasn't like we slept at the same time or saw much of each other. I tiredly kicked off my boots, threw off my clothes and plopped into bed without bothering to put on the clothes I usually sleep in. I didn't normally sleep in my underwear but I was so tired that I simply didn't care. The moment I fell onto the bed, I passed right out.

_I walk slowly down the familiar-looking hallway, taking my time so I can put this off just a little longer. I'm afraid to tell her the thing that I'm about to do. Will she understand? Can she forgive me? Knowing my little sister, she probably won't. We may not be blood related but she is more like me than anyone else I know. I am suddenly at the door to her room and I take a deep breath. I can't put this off any longer. With my chin up and shoulders square, I open her door. She never locks it. The door opens and I see her reading a datapad but not look up. I guess she did not see me. I lean against the door frame and watch her for a moment. Her brown hair is pulled into a neat braid down her back though there are a few hairs that are out of place, and her grey eyes are focused on the text. I wonder what she's reading for a moment but quickly decide that I have to tell her before I change my mind and run like a coward. I clear my throat and she jumps up startled._

_"Hi Bastila," I say with a small, sad smile. "I didn't mean to scare you." Bastila returns it with a weak smile of her own but doesn't say anything for a few moments. She looks distracted and far away…like she's thinking hard about something. Does she already know? I bite my lip nervously._

_"Oh, it's ok. I was just reading," she says. "What are you doing here?" I sit down on the bed beside her and look at her in the eye so that she knows that I'm being serious._

_"Bas, I need to talk to you about something...something very serious," I say. Bastila looks down and concentrates on picking off non-existent lint from her blanket._

_"I...I thought so," she stammers. "I need to ask you something very important."_

_"Of course, anything," I reply. My heart leaps into my throat. I already know what she's going to ask._

_"I've been hearing things from the others, even Malak and Raye. Are they true? Are...are you seriously going to fight the Mandalorians on the Outer Rim?" I take another deep breath but I don't look away._

_"Yes, it's true. That's what I came here to tell you. I wanted to say goodbye because I'm leaving tonight," I reply though I'm not sure how I managed to say that so calmly. I guess it's because I truly believe in my cause. Bastila put her text down and slung the bag that was beside her over her shoulder. "I may not agree with disobeying the Council but I'm coming too," she says stubbornly. I shake my head._

_"No," I say as calmly as I can. "You're not." She can't come; she's not even a Padawan yet for crying out loud! She's my little sister in mind and spirit, and I'll never be able forgive myself if anything happens to her. Bastila suddenly looks like I had just slapped her in the face._

_"Why not?" she asks sadly._

_"You're too young, Bas. War is no place for a fifteen-year-old teenager who hasn't even entered Padawanhood yet. Especially one as gifted as you."_

_"You and Raye are only twenty, only Jedi Knights for, like, a few months and Malak is eighteen, barely an adult and still a Padawan. What difference does my age or rank make?" Bastila retorts. Well, what she is saying is true and I know I'm going against everything I told her by telling her to stay but I'm not dragging her into this._

_"The point stills stands. Bastila, I've made my choice but you still have a chance. Why throw your life away when you can become the great Jedi I know you will be."_

_"That's exactly what Raye said to Mical and Malak said to me," Bastila mutters bitterly under her breath._

_"See? Even they agree!"_

_"But-"_

_"No buts," I interrupt her. "You're not coming and that's final!" I finally snap at her. I feel guilty for acting like I'm her mother but this is for her own good. I know it is. No one talks for a few moments but Bastila and I enter an intense staring match. After a few minutes, she looks away from me angrily. _

_"Fine," she whispers. "I'll stay and you can...you can go and die. See if I care." Those words tear out my heart and it takes all of my strength not to cry. I stand up and leave Bastila's room without a single word or looking back._

I was abruptly awakened by a loud explosion and the sound of the emergency sirens. The room shook violently and held on to the sides of the bed to ensure that I would not be thrown off. The Endar Spire was under attack.


	2. Chapter 1

**Diclaimer: I don't own kotor**

My eyes snapped open as the ship shook again. I jumped out of bed, forgetting for a moment that I was half naked. I ran over to the foot locker beside my bed and gathered everything I would need to fight off any Sith that might board the 'Spire.

I couldn't get that dream out of my head. I've been getting dreams like that a lot lately but why? And why would I be dreaming about Bastila? In my dream, she looked like she was a teenager if that and she was talking with..._someone_ (me?) about the Mandalorian Wars so that must have been like…five years ago. But who was she talking to? It couldn't be me because I didn't know Bastila back then and I was never trained as a Jedi. Some Jedi that followed Revan to war against the Mandalorians, maybe? It would make sense but then I thought about what "I" was saying and it didn't sound like the person was following Revan. Maybe it was Revan herself? It made sense but why would I be dreaming about Bastila and Darth Revan? And why would I be seeing it completely from Revan's point of view? If it even was Revan. Weird. Another explosion rocked the ship, causing it to shake violently again. A friendly reminder of the predicament we were in.

_Focus Alexie...the Endar Spire is under attack_. I thought to myself.

I heard the door open behind me, grabbed one of my blaster pistols and pointed it at the blond-haired man in the door way. The man in the door way looked away with his hand covering his eyes. It was Trask…and I was in my underwear. Son of a bitch. Embarrassed, I put down my blaster and shook my head.

"Trask...what are you doing here?" I asked trying not to look or sound flustered.

"We are being attacked by a Sith battle fleet. Commander Onasi and Captain Shan sent me to evacuate everyone from the dormitory. Sorry Alexie…I didn't know you were practically naked." Trask explained in a quick babble. I sighed as I quickly pulled on some clothes. I pulled on a pair of black trousers, a black, sleeveless shirt (yes I like black, sue me), combat boots and my favourite leather jacket. Thankfully, my hair was already in its single braid down my back so I didn't have to worry about that.

"You can look now, Trask." I said. Trask slowly removed his hand from his eyes and turned to face me. An expression of relief crossed his face as he let out a long breath. I rolled my eyes irritably and snapped my fingers.

"Trask…about the Sith battle fleet?"

"Uh...right, that. This ship is going down, the engineers have tried to repair the damages but they were killed by the Sith boarding party. We need to find Bastila and get her off this ship alive. It's our main duty, you know." Trask explained. I found both my blasters and my trusty Stealth Shield Generator, and clipped them to my belt.

"Well, I'm ready when you are." I said. Trask nodded and we turned to the now closed door.

"Don't bother, it's locked and it won't open without the proper codes, which I happen to have. It's weird because yours is the only room that's locked like this." Trask mused. The only one that's locked? Why would they want to lock me in here while we were under attack? I shook my head and decided to save the unanswerable questions for later. The door opened and as we entered the corridor, Trask and I could hear a male voice coming from our portable communicators. It was Carth Onasi calling all hands to the bridge and that we may not be able to hold up against the Sith this time. Trask and I exchanged horrified glances. If _Commander Onasi_ said things were really bad, then we were in seriously deep shit.

"We need to get to the bridge. Now." I said matter-of-factly, trying not to sound as scared as I was. Trask nodded slowly without a single word. We rushed over to the end of the short corridor to find that this door, too, was locked. This was really starting to piss me off. Captain Shan and Commander Onasi had to be trying to keep something out. Or in. I tried to pick the lock on the door but it chose now to be stubborn. This door was always a pain the ass to open but now was not the time to screw around with a stubborn lock.

_Just open damn it!_ I screamed in my head. I felt a burst of energy release itself from my body without me commanding it to and next thing I knew, the door burst open, crushing the two Republic soldiers on the other side and it hit the wall with such force that it skidded down the corridor, sending the Sith troopers ducking for cover. I took this time to shoot both the Sith troopers while they were still distracted. In the cover of the doorframe, I shot the Sith on my right first, came out of my cover spot and shot the other before he realized what was happening. Trask looked at me with a mixture of fear, surprise and astonishment. I, myself, was terrified of what I just did. How did I do that?

"Must be the advanced boarding party. Good thing I grabbed some medpacks. There's bound to be Sith all over the ship." Trask explained quietly. I appreciated that he didn't talk about what just happened.

"Yeah, I have a feeling that we'll have to abandon ship." I replied.

"Well...let's head to the bridge before thinking of abandoning the Endar Spire." I nodded in agreement and looked through the Sith bodies, seeing if there was anything worth looting and checking for weak spots in their armour. Sith armour was thicker than I initially believed but it was heavy. I noticed the Sith soldiers seemed a little weighed down, slow moving, and that the neck and underarms were the places to shoot at. I stood back up and beckoned Trask to get moving. He silently agreed and we kept moving to the end of the corridor to the armoury. I opened the door (this one wasn't locked thankfully) and we were greeted by blaster fire from two Sith soldiers. Trask and I immediately retreated to the cover that the doorframe provided and we shot the Sith troopers. After a few misses, I managed to get one of them in the knee and, as he stooped in pain, I gave him a blaster shot in the top of the head. As I looked in Trask's direction, I saw him shoot the other Sith trooper in the chest, and he fell back dead. We took a moment to catch our breaths and searched the room for anything that may be useful. First thing I did was loot the Sith bodies. I found a few extra medpacks and even a few grenades. Never know when we may need those grenades. I searched the footlocker and found a bunch of useful things. Inside was a short sword, a long sword, more grenades and even a combat suit. Too bad there was no time to change. I stuffed everything inside my pack, gave Trask one of the swords, sheathed the other sword and exited the room.

We opened the door just to helplessly witness another firefight between several soldiers of each side of the conflict. Not all of them were using blasters. I noticed a few soldiers fighting each other with vibroswords but the Sith easily cut down the Republic soldiers and they were all dead within a couple of minutes. The blaster fire stopped and there was only dead silence. I didn't like this. I got a couple of grenades ready to throw at anyone who attacked us as Trask and I gingerly entered the next hallway. We weren't far from the bridge now. The moment we stepped in the hall, we were ambushed by Sith blaster fire. We headed for cover right away but I wasn't fast enough to avoid the blaster shot that got my left shoulder. I hissed in pain but I ignored it as best as I could. There were at least half a dozen of them shooting at us, all packed together. I suddenly got an idea. I took one of the frag grenades from my bag, yelled at Trask to cover his ears and tossed it at the Sith. Even though my ears were protected, I could still clearly hear the blast of the grenade. I looked at Trask and beckoned him to take a look and see if the Sith were dead. He nodded slowly and took a quick peek. After a few moments, he gave the "all clear" signal and we came out of our cover. Trask stopped.

"What?" I asked urgently. Trask folded his arms across his chest.

"You're hurt." he said bluntly. I lifted my good shoulder nonchalantly.

"Not fatally. We've got more important things to worry about than minor wounds." I replied. Trask took out one of our medpacks.

"Give me you're arm."

"What? No!"

"Will you quit being so stubborn and just do it?" I sighed audibly and did as Trask asked. He gently pushed up my sleeve and injected me with the medpack. The pain immediately subsided and the wound started to close.

"Thanks." I muttered.

"No problem. What are friends are for?" Trask smiled. I looked around to assess the situation. The Sith were on the ground, not moving and I was about to loot the bodies when another explosion caused the ship to rock violently, knocking us both off our feet. We stood back up but I decided against looting the Sith bodies. I suddenly heard the whirring and humming of lightsabers followed closely by the hissing of lightsabers clashing against each other. Trask and I exchanged apprehensive glances, hoping we weren't going to run into a dark Jedi. We walked to the door that would lead us to the corridor that lead to the bridge. I opened the door and, just as I feared, there was a fight between a young woman wielding a blue lightsaber and a young man wielding a crimson lightsaber. I took a step forward to help the young woman (I was never one to stand idly by while someone else got hurt) but I was held back by a strong hand wrapping itself around my arm.

"This fight's too much for us. Even _you've_ got to know that. The three of us will be better off if we stay out of this. We'll just get in the way." Trask explained. He was right of course. But I still couldn't get rid of the feeling that I could help.

The black-haired Jedi finally killed the dark Jedi. She turned to us and I swear she looked at me with a mixture of relief and fear. I raised one eyebrow, not entirely sure what her problem was.

Suddenly, there was an explosion right behind the Jedi. Trask and I covered our eyes with one arm. We could hear the Jedi's scream. She was dead.

"Damn! We could have used her help." Trask snapped looking at the burned body of the young girl. It was sad. That girl was so young. I shook my head.

"We don't have time for this, come on!" I yelled. There was really no time to frack around. This ship was going down, I could feel it. Trask nodded slowly. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he knew I was right.

We ran across the very short hall to the Bridge. Oddly enough, we couldn't hear anything on the other side. I had a bad feeling about this. I looked solemnly at Trask.

"Think anyone's still alive?" he asked me. I put my hand on the controls to open the door.

"Only one way to find out." I stated. Trask nodded tightly with apprehension. I gulped, pressed the "open" button and we entered the bridge to find it empty of any living soul. There were plenty of bodies of both Republic and Sith soldiers however. The lot of them with lightsaber wounds. "You see Bastila's body anywhere, Trask?" I called out.

"No. She must have gotten out of here alive. I'm guessing she probably went to the escape pods."

"We should probably head that way too. If the rumours are true, the Sith will want Bastila alive but the second she steps off the ship, there's nothing stopping them from blowing this ship to hell." I said.

"You're right. For all we know she already left." Trask and I walked carefully through the U-shaped bridge, trying without much success to not trip over the bodies. We opened the next door and jogged through the short corridor until we came to two doors. The one straight ahead went to the hangar bay and the one on our right went to the Transportation module and the escape pods. We suddenly stopped. I felt something and I was sure Trask felt it too.

"Wait, there's something behind here." said Trask suspiciously. I had a really bad feeling about this. I suddenly sensed danger up ahead.

"Trask, don't." But Trask just had to open the door. As he did so, We spotted a dark Jedi wielding a double-bladed lightsaber and he spotted us at the same time, smiling cruelly with murder in his eyes.

"Another dark Jedi!" Trask paused and looked back and forth from the approaching dark Jedi to me. I suddenly understood what he was about to do. I gave him a look that said; "Don't you dare."

"I…I'll hold him off. You get to the escape pods."

"Trask, no! I'm _not_ leaving you behind!" I snapped angrily. I would never leave my friends behind. Trask ran passed the door-frame and looked at me with fury in his eyes. "Go!" he hissed as another explosion caused the door to jam shut, separating us.

"No…" I breathed. Another explosion rocked the ship, convincing me that I really needed to get to the escape pods, with or without Trask. I jogged to the starboard section of the ship that would take me to the escape pods.

The starboard section seemed deserted. There was no one in there. Hopefully that meant I had a clear run to the escape pods. I took a step forward and I felt the presence of at least a dozen Sith. I could feel their presence in between me and my way out of here. I suddenly heard a familiar male voice from my portable communicator.

"Officer Degana, this is Carth Onasi on your personal communicator. Do you copy?" I brought my communicator close to my lips.

"I copy, Commander."

"Good, I'm glad at least someone's still alive. I'm tracking your position through the Endar Spire's life support systems. Bastila's escape pod is away-you're the last surviving member of the Endar Spire. Though I can't wait for you much longer! You have to get to the escape pods!" Carth yelled frantically.

"How much time do I have?" I asked urgently. There was a short pause.

"I don't know-but not much. You should have enough time to get here to the escape pod bay and even get in a fire fight or two, but you should still hurry up!"

"Alright…" I muttered, uncertainty clear in my voice. I didn't exactly feel like blowing up.

"You'll have to be careful though. I'm detecting about a dozen Sith troopers between you and the escape pods. If you have any skill in stealth, you could sneak passed them." Hey, that was actually a good idea.

"I'll be there in a few." I replied.

Following Commander Onasi's advice, I activated my Stealth Shield Generator. I sneaked through the entire section, passing the Sith unseen until I reached the transportation module. In one room with only two Sith soldiers, there was a security panel. I didn't know how, but I could feel the large group of Sith troops in the transportation module. While invisible, I shot one of the Sith and he fell to the ground dead. My Stealth Generator deactivated and the other Sith shot at me. I gunned him down, went to the panel and, from there, I overloaded the power conduit in the transportation module. I ran for the escape pods, looting the Sith bodies while I was at it. I picked up some kolto kits, grenades and a neat looking vibroblade.

"You made it just in time!" said the man in the escape pod bay. I knew the brown hair, mahogany eyes and horrible orange jacket. It was Commander Onasi.

"Are we really the last ones alive?" I asked.

"Yeah. Bastila's escape pod's gone so there's no reason to stay here and get shot or blown up. We can figure out what to do when we land on Taris." he replied. I nodded tightly and allowed Carth to open up the escape pod. I looked inside and found that there was only one seat…and two of us. I gave him a look that said "You've _got_ to be kidding me."

"You're small enough that you can fit on the floor." Carth said matter-of-factly. My green eyes flashed with anger at what he was suggesting.

"_Hell_ no!" I exclaimed exasperatedly.

"Hey, if you want to stay here and blow up with the ship, then go ahead!" Carth yelled back. I looked at the inside of the escape pod and couldn't help but notice how little space there was. I really don't handle confined spaces very well. I tried to get my breathing under control (not successfully but still, I tried), closed my eyes, shakily slipped in the escape pod and carefully placed myself in the small space in front of the seat. I was followed a few moments later by Carth who sat in the seat and held me in place using his knees. The escape launched from the ship and we were home free.

I had absolutely no idea how much time we actually had but I had a feeling that the Endar Spire was no more. I suddenly got a very nasty vibe from the planet we were heading to.

There was suddenly a lot of turbulence and my grip on Carth's legs tightened to the point that my knuckles turned white and I could hear him grunt in pain. The way down to the planet was bumpy and somewhat scary one. When we finally crashed, my head hit the front of the escape pod and my world went black.


	3. Chapter 2

_A dark Jedi swings their glowing crimson lightsaber in the direction of a young woman who I recognize as Bastila. She parries the swing with her own golden weapon, grey eyes focused and determined. She raises her golden lightsaber, its yellow light glowing against her brown hair, and she slashes her weapon down on the dark Jedi's head but they block the strike with their weapon. The young Jedi brings her weapon to the dark Jedi's side, they block it easily but the woman goes for the head again and manages to strike them. They cry out, and fall to the ground dead. She looks at me regretfully and sadly but before anything else happens, I am taken by blackness._

I tentatively opened my eyes to find a man hovering over me. I yelped in surprise and tried to back away but he had my hands pinned above my head. It took me a few moments to register that it was Commander Onasi and he was dressed in civilian clothes instead of that blindingly orange jacket that he had been wearing before. When I looked more closely, I realized he had a pretty nasty bruise on his cheek.

"Look who's finally up." said Commander Onasi with a smile.

"Yeah…uh…you can let go of my hands now, Commander." The Commander let go of my hands and stepped away. I sat up and I suddenly got a huge headache. I put my fingers on my forehead and closed my eyes.

"Call me Carth. Sorry I had to pin your hands down…you were thrashing about in your sleep and you punched me when I tried to wake you up." He rubbed the spot on his face where the bruises were. "You have a strong arm."

"Sorry." I muttered. He was right though, I had a good punch. That's what happens when you spend your entire childhood wrestling with your three older brothers. Carth chuckled.

"It's ok. If you punch like that in your sleep, I don't even want to know what you can do awake." I chuckled and smiled slightly. My smile disappeared as I thought about what happened on the Endar Spire and my mind started to conjure up more questions. At least these ones were easily answered.

"Where are we? How did we get here?" I asked. I figured we were somewhere on Taris, but other than that, I didn't know.

"You don't have to worry; we're safe-for now at least. We are in an abandoned apartment on the planet of Taris. We landed in the Upper City so it could be worse. Anyway, you were banged up pretty bad after the crash…luckily I wasn't seriously hurt. I managed to get you away from the pod before the Sith swarmed over it. That's when I stumbled onto this abandoned apartment."

"I…guess I owe you my life. Thanks." I said. I didn't really like owing people but if it weren't for Carth, then I would have been captured by the Sith and then who knows what would've happened to me then.

"You don't have to thank me. I've never abandoned anyone on a mission and I'm not about to start now, besides, I'm going to need your help." he replied.

"My help? Why would you need _my_ help? You don't even know me."

"You're right…I _don't_ know you, but I read your service records and I was quite impressed. I don't know of any raw recruits that know as many alien languages as you. That may come in handy on a foreign planet."

"But…isn't Taris a human dominated planet?" I asked.

"For the most part. But the Lower City is packed with aliens. The humans here are very prejudiced." Carth explained with a slightly bitter tone in his voice.

"That's just great!" I snapped exasperatedly. "The sooner we get out of here the better. Have you found us a ship, yet?"

Carth's expression turned serious, well…more serious than it already was. "It's not as simple as that." he began.

"And why wouldn't it be?" I asked.

"I did some scouting around while you were out and found out that Taris is under Sith control; they've declared martial law and imposed a planet-wide quarantine. No ships can land or take off." I frowned and shifted nervously. Carth suddenly put his hand on my shoulder. "But don't worry; I've been in worse spots." Carth added reassuringly. I guess my nervousness showed on my face. I rolled my eyes and scoffed.

_I'd like to hear what you think is worse than being stuck on an anti-alien world with the Sith on our tail looking to kill us_. I thought bitterly.

"I'm serious. Look, I highly doubt the Sith are specifically looking for us anymore, we're not that important. But if we're careful, we can move around the planet without attracting too much attention-a luxury Bastila won't have." Right, I completely forgot about Bastila. If we got off the Endar Spire alive, then Bastila could have too. Though I wasn't entirely sure why she was so important. Yes, she was the Jedi who killed Darth Revan and that's really impressive but why would Carth want to find her so badly? "We may need her help to get off Taris and she'll definitely need ours with half the Sith Fleet looking for her."

"Why is it so important to find Bastila? I get why the Sith fleet is after her, considering she killed their Master and everything but how can she possibly be so valuable to the Republic? What does she have that they need?" I asked him.

"The thing is…Bastila's no ordinary Jedi." Carth explained. "She has this power called Battle Meditation. As I understand it, Bastila's battle meditation can influence entire armies! She can inspire confidence in her allies and make her enemies lose their will to fight. It's how she defeated Darth Revan." As Carth explained it, weirdly enough, I understood it with ease. I nodded slowly and I drew my knees to my chest as I twirled the pendant of the necklace that I always wore between my fingers.

"That's a very valuable power considered that's often what tips the balance in a battle."

"That's why it's so important to find her. Without her, the Republic will lose the war for sure. She's pretty much the only reason why Darth Revan didn't crush us like bugs."

"Alright, alright, I see your point. The sooner we find Bastila, the sooner we can find a way out of here."

"You're right, but one thing first. You need to eat something." As Carth mentioned it, my stomach rumbled audibly. How long was I unconscious exactly? It must have been at least a couple of days by how loudly my stomach was protesting.

"How long was I out?" I asked my voice barely a whisper.

"You've been slipping in and out of consciousness for a couple of days now." Carth replied over his shoulder as he went to get me some food. He returned with some food quickly and he sat down with me while I ate, and let me tell you, I was starving. After eating, I felt much better and my headache was pretty much gone after getting some water in my system so it must have been dehydration.

Carth and I talked strategy for how we will find Bastila and find a way out of here. According to Carth, Taris is a very dangerous place for two Republic fugitives like us to be right now. The Upper City was crawling with Sith, the Lower City was dealing with a war between the two major swoop gangs known as the Hidden Beks and the Black Vulkars and the Undercity really hit rock bottom. It was apparently infested with monsters known as rakghouls. We'd have to be very careful here, especially in the Undercity. He also told me that while I was out he heard rumours of escape pods crashing in the Undercity. We decided to start our search for Bastila there as much we both would rather avoid the place.

Just to sate my own curiosity, I asked Carth what he knew about the Dark Lord Malak and the Sith. It's not that I didn't already know the basics, but I figured a career soldier who had been fighting the Sith since they started attacking would know more than I would. I mean, I'm just an explorer. I'm no expert on Sith and I never really paid much attention to what was going on in the Republic because I spent of my time on remote planets in the Outer Rim.

Carth didn't tell me much that I didn't already know. The Dark Lords Revan and Malak had been fighting the Republic for about three years now, and Bastila and the Jedi managed to kill Darth Revan but that didn't stop the Sith. Her apprentice Darth Malak just took over, and fought the Republic with a ruthlessness and brutality of his own. What did surprise me was that Revan and Malak were both Jedi once, just like Bastila. They fought in the Mandalorian Wars (against the wishes of the Jedi Council) and, for mostly vague reasons, ended up turning evil. I started to wonder at the possibility that Bastila might join the Sith. If seemingly good people, Jedi Knights, like Revan and Malak could turn into these brutal, conquering Sith, then what's stopping Bastila from doing the same thing? We needed to find her. And soon. I told Carth about my fears that Bastila might turn on the Republic if she was caught by the Sith and he seemed to understand and feel my urgency. Hopefully Malak only saw her as a threat instead of a useful tool.

After discussing our strategy, I decided to take a shower. Upon entering the refresher, I slipped out of my grimy clothes and hopped in the shower. I stood completely still under the jet of hot water, letting it wash away the filth, blood and dirt. I ran my fingers through my hair, making sure every strand got wet. The soaps and shampoos weren't fancy but it was better than nothing. I turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. The steam in the refresher was thick and the mirror was covered in fog. I wiped my hand across the mirror, wiping the fog off of it and looked at my reflection.

The woman in the mirror looked like me, but she wasn't. It was like looking at the face of a familiar stranger, you know, that person in a crowd that you swear you know but actually don't? That familiar stranger was now me. The stranger had my eyes. They were the same mossy green though they had never been that shadowed and tired-looking. Or had they? She had my hair-long and curly and blonde with a red streak dyed on the left side of it. She had my roundish face, straight nose, the same full lips, the same swirls tattoo on her right wrist, the same strong build, she even wore the same gold necklace with the circle-shaped pendant with a bird in flight carved on the front that I always wore even to sleep…but I was never that pale. Was I? I couldn't tell whether it was that that was making me so pale, the head trauma from the crash or just the crappy refresher lighting. Either way, the paleness of my skin made the battle scars that decorated my body stand out more than I would have liked them to. They were my body's most defining feature. Sometimes, there were days that I wondered where exactly some of them came from. Particularly the ones on my abdomen and chest. They were pretty nasty. The one on my chest traced the line of the right side of my collar bone and ended in the middle of my chest. The one on my abdomen started at the bottom of the left side of my rib cage and, in a diagonal line, went passed my navel and near made it the hip bone. Where could that have happened? I was snapped out of my thoughts by a knock on the door.

"Erm…Alexie? Here's some new clothes. I wasn't sure what your size is but these should fit you." I opened a tiny crack in the door, just big enough to get his hand and the clothes through. I took the clothes from his hand and shut the door again.

"Uh...thanks." I stammered awkwardly.

"You're welcome. I'm getting our stuff ready while you get dressed." Carth called out from the other side of the door.

"Ok." I replied.

I smiled as I pulled on the simple black pants, the white tank top and leather jacket, wondering how Carth managed to get me clothes that fit perfectly without knowing what size to get me. I pulled at my drexl leather glove, pulling it farther on, glad that had something to cover up my one hand. More specifically, the cybernetic that replaced my left hand. I really didn't want to have to explain to Carth, or anyone for that matter, how I lost my hand. The truth is I had no idea how it happened. I was told that it happened in a major freighter accident I got into almost a year ago but I didn't remember crashing. Maybe the crash caused short-term memory loss? With my clothes on, I laced up my combat boots, braided my hair and took a deep breath before finally exiting the refresher.

Carth was getting our stuff ready because who knows what might lie outside the apartment's door? He had his blaster belt around his waist already, I guess he must have used one of our medpacks because the bruises had faded to the point where I had to squint to see them and, as he spotted me, picked up my blasters and handed then to me. He told me that he had a few days' worth of food and water in his pack already, and told me he had some extra supplies in the footlocker.

I walked to the footlocker against the wall opposite to the door and found a lot of useful stuff. There was almost a thousand credits in there, extra weapons (one of which is a dagger that I gleefully put in my boot), a few grenades and a dozen kolto kits. One by one, I put all of our supplies in Carth's backpack and we stood in front of the door, hesitating to exit. Carth looked at me very seriously.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I think it goes without saying that we need to keep a low profile?" Carth replied.

"Come on, Carth, it's not like the Sith will be looking for a couple of nobodies like us."

"Look, I heard some pretty screwed up stories about the Dark Jedi interrogation techniques. They say the Force can do terrible things to a mind: it can wipe away your memories and destroy your very identity." I shuddered and felt a sudden and sharp pain behind my eyes. Like my brain was trying to access information that should have been there but simply…wasn't. Carth put his hand on my shoulder.

"You alright?" he asked me worriedly.

"Yeah, don't worry about me. Let's just...let's just get going." I replied smiling reassuringly. Carth let his hand slowly slide from my shoulder and he gave me a look that said: "If you say so," despite the fact that it obvious that he wasn't convinced.

The pain in my head dissipated and we were both ready to leave. I took a deep breath through my nose, steeled myself for whatever was out there and exited the apartment.


	4. Chapter 3

**Hey guys, what I'm posting right now is what I have on my quotev account and I'm not sure if I'm supposed to put the disclaimer on every chapter especially since I have it in the summary. If I'm supposed to please don't sue me, I'm new to writing on this site but just in case...I don't own Star Wars or Kotor. I just love the game too much**

**Grr...stupid line breaks, anyway on with the story**

Our little adventure didn't start off well. We didn't even take two steps before we spotted a human man in a Sith officer's uniform, flanked by two armed droids, harassing two Duros men.

"Everyone up against the wall, this is a raid!" the man barked. I could tell just by looking at the pair that they had nothing of value for the Sith to take. I was about to step in and teach that man a lesson about bullying innocent people when I remembered that we had to keep a low profile. But these men were innocent, I couldn't let the Sith mug them and possibly kill them. Carth's mahogany eyes met my green ones and we seemed to understand each other without saying a single word. The look he gave me said: _We're not seriously going to let these men get mugged and possibly killed, are we?_

I lifted an eyebrow and my green eyes sparkled mischievously. _And here I thought we were supposed to be keeping a low profile._

Carth shook his head. _Not funny. _ Our mental conversation was interrupted by the sound of blaster fire. We turned our gazes to the Sith and the pair of Duros…well…the one Duros now. The other one was dead. The man pointed his blaster rifle at the other Duros and smirked cruelly.

"That's how we Sith deal with smart-mouthed aliens." The human man grabbed the back the Duros man's shirt and shoved him against the wall. "Now up against the wall before I lose my temper again!"

Carth and I exchanged glances, neither of us able to stand by and watch while an innocent person gets bullied any longer and I pulled the human man away from the Duros man.

"Why don't you pick on someone who can actually defend themselves?" I yelled at him. The Sith looked at me and a furious-looking Carth, and smirked.

_Oh shit._ I thought.

"I think I will Republic scum!" And just like that, we got into our first fight. So much for keeping a low profile. The droids and the Sith officer started shooting at us which normally wouldn't be a problem but the narrow hallway stopped us from being able to move too much. I managed to dispose of the first war droid fairly easily but I noticed Carth getting in a little more trouble and even had the Sith Officer shooting at him. The Sith Officer managed to get a couple of blaster shots on Carth's leg and shoulder.

While both of them were distracted, I shot the second war droid with the blaster in my right hand and, as the Sith Officer was turning his head to see what happened to his war droid, I gave him a blaster shot right between the eyes just as he realized what was happening. As the Sith Officer slumped the ground, I jogged to Carth, squatted down and injected him with one of our medpacks. The blast points started to heal immediately.

"Thanks." Carth groaned. I grasped his hand and pulled him up to his feet.

"No problem. We're even." I replied, winking at him playfully. Carth ran a hand through his brown hair and smiled, his lips curling in a roguish smile that made him seem a little boyish.

"So, keeping score now, are we?"

"Hey, you saved my ass, so I saved yours. It's no big deal." I said shrugged nonchalantly. I walked over the Duros man who was staring at the bodies in disbelief.

":Are you alright?:" I asked the Duros in his native tongue. He jumped up a couple of feet startled. I guess he wasn't used to humans speaking his language.

":Why did he have to talk back to that Sith? Why?:" the Duros sighed. ":Thank you, human. I am sorry, but I have nothing to give you as a reward.:"

":That's ok. I don't want anything. I'm just glad that I could help.:" I replied giving him a friendly smile.

":You are too kind, human. Don't worry about the bodies. I'll get rid of them.:" he said.

":You don't have to do that. We can do it ourselves.:"

":I want to. Take it as my thanks for saving my life.:"

":Ok, thank you, we owe you big time.:" I said to him.

":As I said, take this as payment for saving my life. Goodbye, humans.:" the Duros man started dragging away the bodies and we walked away from him, letting him do us that favour. Carth looked at me with a look of pure bewilderment. I figured that, unlike myself, Carth wasn't much of a linguist and didn't have the slightest idea of what just happened.

"That Duros man doesn't have anything to pay us back with so he said he'd get rid of the bodies for us. I told him that he didn't have to do that for us but he's doing it anyway." I explained. Carth's looked of confusion disappeared and he mouthed "Oh."

"That's nice of him."

"Yeah it is, though I highly doubt the rest of Taris will help us out much, especially with the Sith quarantine." I said. I wasn't getting my hopes up about finding allies on this planet, nor was I actually expecting to find Bastila alive. I wanted to find her, the Republic needed her power (and I, for some reason, actually cared about her well-being), but after three days, I figured she must have been caught by someone. Obviously not the Sith because they would have lifted the quarantine if they had but maybe some the locals wouldn't be too picky about using her for their own needs and wants. Carth fingered his chin and was silent for a few moments.

"There might be a few people willing to help us. We need all the allies we can get." he said after a few moments. I had to agree with him on that one. I wasn't expecting people to actually help us out of the goodness of their hearts, but we needed allies and we weren't going to get far without them. Maybe one of the Lower city gangs would be able to help us out? We got stopped by a twi'lek named Larrim who actually sold us some stuff. I ended up buying some more medpacks from him and a few antidote kits in case we got into a fight with someone who carried a poisoned weapon. I wasn't sure where I was going so Carth showed me the way out and made absolutely sure I knew which apartment was ours since we decided to use that apartment as our base or headquarters. We walked to the entrance of the building and left the Uppercity apartments.

We walked away from the apartments, our backs turned to the safety of our little base. The sun was beading down on us from the cloudless sky, causing me to have to shield my eyes with my hand. I looked around the Uppercity, taking in the streets, the buildings and the different people. Carth wasn't kidding when he said the people were very prejudiced. There wasn't a single alien on the streets of Uppercity Taris, at least none that I could see. I looked to my right and noticed a wrecked escape pod. I guess that's the escape pod Carth and I crashed landed in. I glanced at Carth quickly, noticing that he was staring at his feet as he walked. He looked so distant. I was suddenly curious about the man I was travelling with. Part me was saying "Leave the man alone!" but the other part was saying that if I'm going to be stuck with Carth for a while, I need to know more about him.

"Hey Carth?" I asked. Carth suddenly snapped his head up.

"What?"

"I'd like to know some more about you." I said.

"Me? Well, I've been a star-pilot for the Republic for years. I've seen more than my fair share of wars...I fought in the Mandalorian Wars before all this started." Carth explained reluctantly. I already knew that. Everyone who was stationed on the Endar Spire knew that. Tell me something I _don't_ know. "But with all that, I've never experienced anything like the slaughter these Sith animals can unleash. Not even the Mandalorians were _that_ senseless. My homeworld was one of the first to fall to Malak's fleet. The Sith bombed it into submission, and there wasn't a damn thing our Republic Forces could do to stop them!" Carth was getting angrier and angrier, and he looked pissed enough to blow a gasket. I couldn't help but notice that he seemed to be talking like he failed in some way. There so much more to this than just the bombardment of his homeworld. Ok, I shouldn't say "just" because the loss of one's homeworld is a big deal, but he was holding back the full story.

"You're talking like it's your fault. Like you...failed somehow." I observed carefully. Carth sighed audibly.

"It shouldn't be my fault. I did everything I could...I followed my orders and did my duty. That shouldn't mean I failed them. I _didn't_." Failed who? This clearly upset him and I didn't want to pry anymore but my curiosity got the better of me.

"Failed who? The people of your homeworld?"

"Yes. No…no, that's not what I mean. I'm not making making much sense, am I? Look, you probably mean well with your questions but I'm just not used to talking about my past very much. At all actually." Carth explained sadness clear in his voice as he spoke. I suddenly felt really bad for the man.

"What are you used to then?" I asked. Carth hesitated but answered my question though reluctantly.

"Taking action...keeping my mind focused on the business at hand. Can we do that? Please? You ask me more questions later, just...not now." As much as I wanted to know more, I didn't want to pry anymore. Maybe I can get more out of him later. We continued walking through the streets of the Uppercity, and I could feel the eyes of the people who were watching us. I tried seem as unremarkable as possible as to not attract the eyes and interests of the Sith. At the end of the street, we took a right turn and something caught my eye. The street was snapped like a U and on the flat wall was a door with a sign beside it that said: Kebla Yurt's Emporium.

With the extra credits there was enough money to buy some more supplies. Maybe even some more armour and weapons. I made a mental note to come back here later. I looked at Carth and asked him where the best place to find allies was. Apparently there was a cantina just ahead. Maybe not the best place to find allies but it's not like we had much of a choice.

"Can I ask you something?" Carth asked me. I smiled playfully at him.

"And here I thought I was the only curious one here." I replied. Carth rolled his eyes at me in irritation.

"Look, sister, can you just answer my question?"

"Sure. What do you want to know?" I said.

"Where are you from? Your service records say Deralia but having met you and talk to you, I never have guessed you were from Deralia. Did you go to a different planet at a young age or did you lie about where you are from?" Carth asked. I narrowed my green eyes at him. Why would I lie about where I was from? Sure, my childhood was terrible but I wouldn't lie about it.

"No, I am from Deralia. I spent my young childhood there. It was destroyed when I was six by the Mandalorians. I...don't remember what happened after that. It all happened so fast and it's all a blur but I ended up on Nar Shaddaa like many other refugees but I left that place when I turned sixteen and I've been exploring the galaxy ever since." I answered quietly.

"That makes sense. Still, I would never have guessed." Carth murmured. "Why not?" Carth hesitated for a moment.

"Your accent." he replied.

"My accent? What does _that _have to do with anything?" I asked.

"Well, by your accent I would have guessed you were from Dantooine." Dantooine? My accent was _not _Dantooinian, was it? No, it couldn't be. I've never set foot on Dantooine since there's nothing there except farmers. I shook my head and didn't reply.

I wasn't surprised to find that there was a Sith guarding the cantina but he let us go by, thinking we were just Tarisian locals. As Carth and I entered the cantina, I looked around, taking my environment. Right at the entrance was a Pazaak table surrounded by Pazaak players. I wrinkled my nose. I hated Pazaak. The players were usually dirty cheaters and I never liked gambling. I prefer my money in my _own _pocket, thank you very much. We walked further into the cantina and I ordered us a couple of drinks while Carth picked out a table for us to sit at.

I walked up the (not surprisingly) human bartender and ordered our drinks from him. I ordered myself a Corellian Firewhiskey (my personal favourite) and a Tarisian Ale for Carth. I stood at the bar waiting for the bartender to give me our drinks so we can plan things out a little more.

It took a few minutes for the bartender to give me the drinks though it seemed to be taking longer for some of the other patrons. With our drinks in my hands, I left the bar and looked for Carth. It took me a minute to find Carth sitting at one of the tables, looking so unremarkable that I also passed him, thinking he was just another Tarisian man. I sat down at the table, sitting right across from him.

"You really need to get that orange jacket back on. I didn't recognize you for a second." I said laughing. Carth smiled slightly.

"Oh really? And here I thought I was the only one who liked that jacket."

"I was just kidding about that awful jacket but it's true that I almost passed you right by." I said with a more serious tone in my voice.

"Well, we're better hidden from the Sith at least." Carth whispered, keeping is voice as low as possible.

"True. Getting captured and tortured isn't exactly on my To-Do list." I replied keeping my voice just as low. Never knew who was listening and I'm pretty sure even Sith would want to come get a drink every once in a while. I looked around the cantina, looking for any potential allies but nobody screamed "Work with me! I'll help Republic soldiers off Taris!" I decided that maybe we'll be able to cover more ground if we split up and Carth agreed. We finished our drinks at our table and we went our separate ways. I walked around the cantina looking for any potential allies but the pickings looked slim at best and I wasn't off to a good start. The first room I walked into got me into an argument with one the nobles. Some overdressed black-haired woman named Gana I think. I didn't ask her to greet me but when she did, the little bitch didn't even say "Hello" like most people. She greeted me with an insult to my clothing. My clothes weren't fancy by any means but she didn't have be so snobby about it. And to make things worse, she thought I was her damn waitress. I tried calmly explaining to her that I didn't work here but she continued to order me around and threatened to tattle on me to her father. You know, like I actually cared. I finally lost my temper on her and told the spoiled brat if she didn't shut up I'd punch her in the mouth. She ran away screaming for her daddy pretty damn quick.

I walked into a room that had view screens all over the left wall. Up against the right wall was a slimy Hutt. I hated Hutts. They have a tendency of being cruel and screwing people over. Straight in front of me was a door guarded by a Rodian, blocked by a red rope. To my left, I overheard a couple argue. "I can't believe you didn't get us tickets to the dueling match!" the woman complained. "Now we have to watch it from here."

"It's just Gerlon and Deadeye fighting. It's not like it's anyone special." the man replied.

"Just shut up and watch the view screen." the woman grumbled. The couple's eyes were glued to the view screen and, just for the fun of it, I watched the screen too. The first thing I saw was a bird's-eye-view of the oval shaped arena surrounded by bleachers filled with people. In the middle of the arena there were two men. The announcer introduced the younger man as Gerlon Two-Fingers. The announcer introduced the old man as Deadeye Duncan. The fight began with Deadeye dropping his stun blaster on the ground. Gerlon took advantage and shot Deadeye. Deadeye fell almost immediately. The announcer announced that Gerlon was the winner and that Deadeye was simply unconscious for apparently not the first time. Suddenly, Gerlon walked in through the rope-guarded door and got paid by the Hutt. I suddenly got an idea. I walked up to the Hutt to spoke to him.


	5. Chapter 4

**_Disclaimer just in case: I don't own Star Wars or any of the expanded universe including Kotor. My name isn't George and I don't work at Bioware (I'm also pretty sure that Lucas Arts doesn't make games anymore but I'll have to search that up). Anyway, ANOTHER POV!_**

_Carth's POV_

I walked away from Sarna, glad to have a plan for how to actually get in the Lower City. Sarna was a Republic spy who had voluntarily infiltrated the Sith ranks to give us information about what was going on. She was just a Junior Officer in the Sith ranks but she and a bunch of the others were having a party tonight and there will be lots of drinking. Sarna said if Alexie and I showed up to the party, then she could get everyone drunk enough so that we could steal some Sith uniforms unnoticed. The Sith guarding the Lower City elevator wouldn't let me go down to the Lower City but maybe the uniforms will disguise us enough that he'll let us pass. I sat at the bar and ordered another (and much less strong) drink as I waited for Alexie to come back. Where was she? I hope nothing bad happened to her. Not that I cared or anything. I just wasn't sure if I could find Bastila and get off this planet on my own. I suddenly overheard some of the patrons talking.

"Can you believe that the Mysterious Stranger beat Ice? Looks like Ice finally got her ass kicked. The Mysterious Stranger shows some serious girl power." said a female patron excitedly. Why did I have a bad feeling about this?

"Excuse me? What can you tell me about the Mysterious Stranger?" I called to the patrons. They looked at me with startled expressions on their faces and the woman looked excited.

"Not much. All I know is she just showed up a couple of hours ago but she already beat three duellists. Three!"

"Does the Mysterious Stranger happen to have long curly blonde hair with a red streak dyed in the left side, bright green eyes, and a cybernetic left hand?" I had to ask Alexie about that sometime.

"Yep! And she definitely knows how to kick some ass." the dark-skinned female patron replied.

"Yeah." the male patron added. "If I didn't know any better I'd say she's a Jedi. She sure fights like one."

_Fights like a Jedi?_ I thought suspiciously. I knew next to nothing about Alexie but I was pretty sure that she hadn't received any Jedi training. Either Bastila would have said something or it would have said so in her service records. Didn't Alexie fight with blasters? I'd have to see how she fought with melee weapons first. Suddenly, another woman (who looked identical to the other female patron) rushed towards them screaming "Guys, guys! Guess what!"

"What is it this time, Mayra?" the male patron asked with annoyance clear on both his face and in his voice.

"The Mysterious Stranger just beat Marl. _Marl_, John. No one has ever beaten Marl except for Twitch." Mayra chirped. John and the woman's eyes widened. "Is she gonna go against Twitch?" asked the female patron.

"I think she will, Seraya. I mean, can you imagine if the Mysterious Stranger became Champion?" Mayra squeaked excitedly. I stood up from my seat, worried that Alexie might have gotten herself hurt or something.

"Where can I find the duelling ring?" I asked, almost positive that Alexie was the "Mysterious Stranger".

"Over there." Seraya pointed over my head. I turned my head and went the direction that Seraya was pointing at.

I went inside and saw a wall with a few view screens and saw Alexie proudly holding her blasters in each of her hands and four duellists were nursing blaster wounds. Alexie was speaking to a Hutt who was paying her at least four hundred credits. I was no linguist and didn't understand a lick of what was going on. The Hutt was laughing a low, deep laugh and saying something in what sounded like Huttesse.

"As long as you pay me my share, Hutt." Alexie replied to whatever he said in a frosty, menacing voice. The Hutt said something else to Alexie though I was pretty sure that I knew what they were talking about.

"Of course I am. I'm not leaving without becoming Champion. Just give me a few moments to refresh myself first." Alexie told him. The Hutt said something else and Alexie nodded before walking away from him. Alexie took her coin purse (which was already fat with credits) out of a small pouch on her utility belt and stuck her stack of credits inside. She put her coin purse back in, took out a flask of water and took a huge gulp out of it. She put everything away and I walked up to her. "Are you insane?" I hissed at her. Alexie beamed a radiant, cocky smile at me. She had a beautiful smile. _It's not just her smile you find beautiful. _A little voice at the back of my mind said. I mentally scolded myself for thinking that way.

_Get a grip Onasi! She must have had something to do with the crash. It's no coincidence that she was brought onto the Endar Spire just before the attack._ My mind was saying. _Besides you can't betray her memory._ _You_ can't.

"Relax, Flyboy. I'm on a roll and getting paid a lot of money. Money we might need for, oh I don't know, getting out of here, perhaps?" I thought about what she said. We _did _need all the money we could get our hands on. I just realized that I had a concussion grenade in my pack. I took it out and gave it to her.

"Here." I said as I passed her the concussion grenade. "Take this since you're going to go up again."

"That's genius!" Alexie exclaimed excitedly. She jogged over to the Hutt, her long messy gold curls bouncing against her back as she moved.

"Hey, are concussion grenades allowed in the duelling ring?" Alexie asked the Hutt. I didn't know what the Hutt said to her but her smile got bigger and much more confident. I guess that she was allowed to use the grenade.

"Great. Then I'm ready to go up against Twitch."

The Hutt made some kind of call on a holocommunicator. When he finished speaking to the wild looking Rodian in the holo, the Hutt looked at Alexie and spoke to her. Whatever he said, it invoked a look of complete determination on Alexie's face.

"So am I." Alexie replied. She went to the door that was blocked by a red rope. The Rodian guarding it let Alexie pass. I went to one of the view screens and watched the fight.

The announcer introduced the two contestants. Alexie Degana, known as the Mysterious Stranger, and the Rodian known as Twitch. I now knew why Twitch was called that. He couldn't stop fidgeting and looked borderline psychotic. He looked way too trigger happy to me and I started to fear for Alexie's safety.

_Don't worry, this is Taris. Nobody dies in these duels. There are special shield generators that stop weapons from killing the duellists. _I told myself though I was still unconvinced.

The match began and Twitch shot at Alexie almost immediately but she was too fast. She dodged the shots by jumping away from the spot where he was shooting. Typical skill for an explorer who had been pretty much everywhere in the galaxy. Nothing too Jedi-like about that. He kept shooting at her and all she had time to do was vault out of the way. She raised the blaster in her right scar-scored hand and shot at Twitches head a couple of times, each of the shots he dodged, but Alexie quickly aimed for the knees. Twitch fell to the ground and Alexie activated the concussion grenade, the blast from it stunning Twitch and he eventually passed out.

"The fight is over!" yelled the announcer. "Twitch is down! You know what this means, folks! The Mysterious Stranger is the new champion!" The crowd cheered and the view screen faded to black. Alexie came in from the arena and got paid more money by the Hutt. The Hutt seemed very excited as he spoke to Alexie. At first, she looked a little disappointed at first but something peaked her interest.

"Bendak Starkiller huh? Sounds like a Mandalorian. I'll think about it." Alexie replied. "Where can I find him?" The Hutt said something else to her.

"Alright then. Thanks for the credits." Alexie said before her bright green eyes met with mine and she walked up to me.

"What happened?" I asked her curiously.

"Well, none of the duellists want to go up against me now but there's a Mandalorian named Bendak who could fight me. He only does death matches though." Alexie explained.

"Tell me you aren't going to get into a death match. What if you get hurt or even worse, killed?" Alexie smiled that beautiful smile again but I could have sworn I saw her face turn pink.

"That's sweet. I didn't know you cared, Flyboy." I was speechless. I tried to counter her but all that came out was a bunch of Uh's and Err's. Really smooth, I know. I eventually found my voice after a few moments of me being embarrassed at not finding something to say and Alexie looking so damn amused.

"Can we just...get out of here. Please?"

"Sure." With that, Alexie and I finally left the duelling room.


	6. Chapter 5

**_Disclaimer: I don't Star Wars, Kotor or any of the characters or plot_** _Alexie's POV_

"Can you believe that I made us fifteen hundred credits?!" I shouted excitedly as we left the duelling ring. Carth looked impressed.

"That's a hundred times better than what I could do. We can use those credits. And smart move on not using your real name." Carth said. Was he seriously admiring my handiwork? I could feel my face get hot.

_What are you, a schoolgirl?_ I mentally scolded myself angrily. I lifted one shoulder, trying to seem nonchalant while I got the heat in my face under control. I looked around me to make sure no one was listening.

"I figured that the Sith might have found a crew manifest on the Endar Spire before it blew. I don't want them on our backs while we look for Bastila." I said keeping my voice barely audible.

"That's what I was thinking. We don't want the Sith finding us. The best we can hope for if we're discovered is to be shot on sight. At least that will be quick but knowing the Sith, they'd torture us to get Bastila's location." he replied very quietly. I decided to change the subject to one that I hoped would bring us good news.

"So...did you find us any allies?" I asked.

"Well...I talked to this woman named Sarna and she's…well…" Carth paused as though thinking about what would be ok to say. "A…a junior Sith Officer stationed here on Taris though she really hates her job." Carth finally said after a few moments though he seemed to be picking his words very closely. "She invited me to a party she and the other Junior Officers are having tonight, and she said she could get the others drunk while we steal a couple of Sith uniforms."

"So, why do we need Sith uniforms?" I asked.

"The elevator to the Lowercity is guarded by the Sith. I tried getting down there but the guard wouldn't let me pass because I didn't look like a Sith." Carth explained.

"So the Sith uniforms could fool the Sith into thinking that we're one of them." I added. I nodded approvingly at Carth. "That's smart Flyboy." Carth smiled at me slightly as we left the cantina. As we exited the cantina, we kept our eyes to the floor and tried to look as unremarkable as possible to avoid the Sith. We decided that we would wait in our apartment for nightfall so we could attend the party. I had no idea why a member of the Sith would so readily help us but I had a feeling that Carth wasn't telling me everything about this Sarna woman. I knew that the Republic had spies just like the Sith. Maybe Sarna was really a Republic pretending to be a Sith? I decided not to think about that for now. I trusted Carth's instincts. He had like fifteen maybe twenty years of military experience and if he trusted Sarna then she must have been worth trusting. We headed back to the apartment though we ended up in another fight as we passed Kebla Yurt's shop. It was nothing we couldn't handle, just a couple of Rodians armed with a single vibroblade but off to the side watching was that woman Gana again. We disposed of her lackeys quickly and Gana ran away scared, crying out "Daddy!" I'll admit, it was funny to watch. She won't be messing with us again that's for sure. After the fight, Carth folded his arms across his chest and looked at me as though wondering whether or not bitch at me.

"What?" I said as I raised my arms half-way innocently.

"Why do I get the feeling that we got attacked because of something you did?" Carth asked.

"I didn't do anything. That woman-the overly-dressed one with the black hair we saw running away-was being a complete and utter bitch in the cantina and I…" I hesitated and rubbed the back of my neck with my hand. "I _may_ have told her I'd punch her in the mouth."

"We need to keep a low profile and you decide to piss off Tarisian nobles?" I took my hand away from the back of my neck and pointed my finger at the man I was travelling with.

"Hey...she's lucky I didn't actually punch her in the mouth." I said. Carth chuckled slightly.

"Why do I get the feeling that working with you is going to get really interesting?" Carth asked.

"Well...I am a very interesting person." I replied.

"Ha! No kidding. We should get underway." I nodded in agreement and walked back to the apartment. The rest of way back was thankfully uneventful and we stayed quiet the entire way which drove me crazy. I just _had_ to know more about Carth but I didn't want to ask too soon.

_Just wait until we get back to the apartment_. I kept telling myself but I'm not really known for my patience. Thankfully, we arrived soon and I could sate my curiosity some more.

"Uh...Carth?" I asked as we walked into the apartment.

"Yeah?" he replied with his back still turned to me.

"Is this a good time for some more questions?" Carth turned to me with that roguish smile of his on his face.

"I'm all ears beautiful." he replied. Beautiful? He couldn't mean that, could he? No...he was just saying that to change the subject but as much as I hate to admit it, it worked. I swear I felt my face turn crimson as I managed to coldly say "Address me like that again and you might just lose and ear or two." Carth laughed at me softly.

"A little touchy are we? Is there something you'd prefer I called you?" Carth asked with a playful tone in his voice.

"How about my name?" I phrased it like a question but my low, frosty tone made it clear that I was not asking.

"Don't get yourself in a twist over it Gorgeous. I didn't mean anything by it." I suddenly lost my temper on him. Why did he insist on flirting with me when it was clear that he just wanted to change the subject? When it was clear that he didn't mean anything he said? I threw my hands in the air in anger.

"There you go again!" Carth started to look frustrated himself.

"Oh for crying out-" he snapped. Carth took a few deep breaths and looked a little calmer. "Fine. If it'll make you feel better, you call me something. Go ahead, come on, I can take it." My jaw dropped.

"What? Don't be ridiculous."

"What? Are you afraid you're going to hurt my feelings? Come on, spit it out. You can do it."

"How about Pushy Thug?" I grumbled under my breath.

"Is that it? You can do better than that, can't you?"

"Why you brainless, lice-ridden _bantha_!" I snapped. Carth placed both his hands over his heart and looked like I had physically wounded him.

"Ouch. That _is_ better. Though "Beautiful" doesn't sound so bad in comparison, does it?" I couldn't stop myself from laughing.

"You are such a pain, you know that?" I said through my admittedly girlish giggles and Carth started laughing too. It was weird. Before entering the apartment he had been so serious. Almost stoic. Now we were having a good time. I wondered if there was a reason why he did that. Why he would be laughing and joking and all around having a good time, and then suddenly stop and become completely serious. He'll tell me, willingly or not. He'd better get used to talking about himself.

"Guilty as charged." Carth's expression turned serious again. "I bet you still have those questions in mind. Are they really necessary?"

_Oh no you don't._ I thought. I wasn't about to let the interesting, funny guy I'd just seen a second ago disappear under the sourpuss again.

"Don't be such a child. It's just a few questions." I said. I was glad when I saw Carth smile once again.

"Oh no, how can I resist a challenge to my manly pride, huh?" he asked as he laughed. "You've made your point. Interrogate at will." From the look on his face, he was only half joking about the interrogation. I folded my arms across my chest.

"Are you getting testy again?" This attitude of his was seriously starting to piss me off. Carth's face turned hard and stony as mine.

"I don't get testy, I get angry. If I was angry you wouldn't need to ask me if I was, let me assure you. Let me ask you something first, though. I've been going through the battle aboard the Endar Spire over and over again in my head since we crashed." I shifted my weight from foot to foot uncomfortably.

"And your point is?" I asked.

"Some things don't add up for me. Maybe you can tell me what happened. From your perspective, I mean. I, myself, was just trying to get as many people out of there as soon as possible." Carth said. I shrugged.

"My dorm was locked for some reason, and Trask came in and yelled at me about the attack. I ran out of the there pretty quick. I wasn't exactly in the mood to die. Why?"

"I…uh…I was just wondering. It just seems a little convenient that the Sith attacked just after you were transferred aboard the Endar Spire, don't you think?" he replied accusingly. My eyes widened in anger and surprise.

"Are you implying that _I_ had something to do with the crash?!" I yelled at Carth.

"No! Well…maybe. Look, I meant no offense, I just don't trust people. With good reason." he replied throwing his hands up as if in surrender.

"It's too damn late for "no offenses" Flyboy!" I yelled at him as I air quoted the words "no offenses" with my fingers.

"Alright, sister just…just calm down, before your head explodes." I walked up to Carth until I was standing right in front of him and put my index finger on his chest.

"Don't tell me to calm down, you-you Hairless Wookiee!" I shouted at him in my fury. I never had much control over my anger.

"Oh, ouch. I think you hurt my man feelings with that one." he said as his lips tilted up in his cute roguish smile. Damn, the man's like…thirty-seven maybe thirty-eight years old and yet that smile of his made him look a little boyish. I stepped away from Carth a little bit.

"Well, you deserved it for thinking I'm some sort of Sith spy or something." I growled. "And one other thing, how do I know that I can trust you?" I snapped, feeling kind of stupid. I had never met Carth before crashing on Taris, but I had heard plenty about him. If anyone could be trusted, it's him. He nodded at me in understanding, though. I had a feeling that he knew mistrust only too well.

"You've got a point. Trust shouldn't come easy. And if you're smart, you won't trust anyone. Not Bastila, not me, and certainly not yourself."

"I wouldn't want to live like that." I muttered. My anger dissipated as fast as it came and I calmed down.

"Well…I don't have the benefit of a choice." retorted Carth.

"Why not?" I asked, putting my hand on my hip.

"Damn it woman! Can you harass someone else for a little while?!" he yelled, obviously hiding something.

"I'd _love_ to, but I don't have the benefit of a choice." Carth sighed loudly and collapsed on the couch of the apartment. "Why don't you trust anyone?" I asked.

"Look Alexie, I know you mean well with your questions but I really just don't want to talk about it just now. Maybe I'll answer your questions another time."

"Alright. I'll respect your privacy for now. I'm getting hungry anyways. Are we eating dinner before we got to that party or is that something that will have to wait?" I asked. Carth shrugged as he got to his feet.

"I guess we can eat now. Does this mean I'm expected to make it?" Carth asked as he raised an eyebrow at me.

"Hey, me cooking is not a good idea. I somehow managed to burn _water_." I explained. Carth suddenly looked very amused, like he was trying very hard not to laugh. His eyes said; "How in space did you manage _that_?" He turned his back to me and shook his head as he went to the kitchen, and started putting our dinner together. By the looks of the refrigerator, Carth did some serious grocery shopping while I was unconscious. At least food was something we didn't have to worry about for a while and I wasn't planning on staying here for long enough to go through all of our food. After about an hour, our dinner was ready and the smell was making my mouth water. After taking a couple of bites, I couldn't help but exclaim "Oh my Force!"

"What?" Carth asked.

"This is really good. Where do you learn to cook like this?" Carth hesitated and looked incredibly sad. I suddenly felt a pang of guilt in my gut for asking.

"Well...I'm a soldier and every soldier has a family. It was actually my mother who taught me how in the first place when I was just a teenager. I hated that she wanted me to learn to cook at the time but I learned to appreciate it." Carth explained with a wistful smile.

"Oh? And where is she now?" I asked after taking another bite of food.

"She…uh…she passed away several years ago." Carth stammered. I felt bad again.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked." I said.

"It's ok. I mean, you lost your mom when you were just a kid. At least I have plenty of memories."

"Yeah." I murmured. The rest of dinner was spent talking about the plan when we got to the Sith party. It was in the Uppercity North apartment building and the door was going to be left open so it shouldn't be too hard to find especially with the music playing. As Carth explained the plan to me, he quickly mentioned that Sarna wasn't really a Sith. She was a Republic spy that infiltrated the Sith ranks and had been feeding the Republic information about them, which made everything make perfect sense. The plan was that Sarna was going to get everyone so drunk on Tarisian Ale (which was a really strong drink so it wouldn't take much to get the Sith officers completely wasted) that they all either pass out or can't see straight so they wouldn't notice a couple of their uniforms being stolen. This was a perfectly good plan but no plan is fool proof. Anything could go wrong and I didn't want to get Sarna in trouble. Carth assured me that she knew exactly what the risks were and was perfectly willing to help us out. As we finished our dinner, I was about to tell Carth that I'd like to stop at Kebla Yurt's Emporium very quickly before going to the party if we could but then I looked the chronometer and my eyes widened as I realized we were going to be late. We quickly packed everything we were going to need for the party and even changed our clothes into something that was more fitting for a party. I wore a pair of brown pants that flared widely at the bottom, a thin-strapped blue shirt and long black gloves that went up to my biceps while my hair was worn half up, the only style I could get it in and make it still look nice. For jewelry, I wore a pair of large gold hoop earrings, and (of course) my necklace which I never took off anyway. It was the only thing I had of my mother. I didn't put much on in terms of makeup. I lined my green eyes with black eyeliner and smudged the line so it didn't look too thick or too dark and I put on a little bit of light red lipstick on my lips. I was sure I looked good enough for a party. When I turned and saw Carth, my jaw just about fell to the floor.

He looked good. And I mean really good. He was dressed very simply and there was no way it should have looked good for a party but it did. He was dressed in a black, button-up dress shirt, a black over coat accented with gold and red and a pair of dark pants. Oh and did I mention that he had shaved off the beard that had grown on his face as a result of three days without shaving? He looked a little weird without it but the clean-shaven look seemed to take several years off of him. He looked at me the same way I was looking at him.

"Uh...you look beautiful." He said with big brown eyes wide in surprise. I smiled.

"You look good too, Flyboy." I replied.

"You ready to go?" He asked me. I nodded and we left the apartment, probably looking ridiculous to the rest of the Tarisian locals. I personally had no idea where the Uppercity North was or where to find the apartments but Carth seemed to know exactly where we were going so he took the lead for once. Instead of going straight in the direction of Yebla's shop and the cantina, we took a left turn as we left the apartment building. Carth told me of a few places of importance, like the hospital ran by a man named Zelka. He was a doctor in the Uppercity who would offer us healing as well as sell us medpacks and antidote kits if we were poisoned. A conversation to my left captured my attention.

"You've been holding out on us again." a male voice said matter-of-factly.

"But I don't have any money!" replied the terrified voice of an old man.

":Too bad. You were supposed to pay Davik back a long time ago. Now we have to beat it out of you.:" said the Aqualish man in his native language. The old man looked near tears.

"No, please!" He begged. "I have half of it right here, you could take it to Davik and I can pay the rest of it another day."

"It's all or nothing, old man. And since you don't have it all, we are just going to have to kill you." said the human man.

"No, don't kill me, I'm begging you!" the old man begged. My anger flared and I stepped in to stop these men from killing that innocent man with Carth right behind me, even less able to let something like this slide than I was.

"What's going on here?" Carth asked. The two men looked at us angrily and menacingly.

":Nothing that's any of _your_ business.:" the Aqualish said. The look on Carth's face turned fierce so I was guessing that he understood the language.

"It looks like you were about to harm that man." I said. "And that is something we can't allow." The human man walked up to me, smiling.

"What are you gonna do it about it, Sweetheart?" he raised his hand but I grabbed it and flicked my wrist, causing his to snap. He cried out and sunk to his knees with me still holding on to his hand. I grabbed the blaster pistol from his belt and shot him with it while the Aqualish man was too stunned to do anything. "Don't ever call me Sweetheart." I spat coldly as I let the human man's body fall to the ground and pointed the blaster at the Aqualish.

"I suggest you start running." I said, my voice low and menacing. The Aqualish man ran for his life and I tossed the blaster on the ground with Carth starring wide-eyed at me. I turned to the old man.

"Are you hurt?" I asked him. The man shook his head.

"No but now I can't pay Davik back. Thank you for getting rid of those men but Davik will keep sending more and more after me until I'm dead. Oh, my wife was right. I should never have borrowed money from him." He replied distressed. I took out my coin purse and opened it.

"How much do you owe?" I asked.

"One hundred credits. Why?" I looked through my stack of credits and counted one hundred. I took the hundred out of my coin purse and gave it to him.

"Here. Take it and pay off your debt to this Davik guy." The man looked ecstatic.

"Oh thank you, kind lady! I swear I'll never borrow money from Davik again!" he said as he ran off. I smiled as I turned around but it faltered and disappeared as I noticed the look on Carth's face.

"What?" I asked incredulously.

"That was very generous of you." he observed. I folded my arms across my chest.

"Yes and?"

"Nothing it's just...you seemed like you were two different people right then. One second you were an incredible badass who kills thugs without a weapon and the next you're handing out our money to people in debt without asking for anything in return." he explained. I shrugged.

"Look, I just got really mad. And I hate it when people call me "Sweetheart" like that." I said as I pursed my lips.

"That I can understand. You know, if you keep fighting like that, we'll have no trouble getting out of this situation." Carth said. I smiled and beckoned him to lead on to the Uppercity North apartments.


	7. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own kotor**

We entered Uppercity North and I looked around me. The sun was beginning to set, colouring the sky a deep, burning orange. I caught Carth looking at me again and he dropped his gaze to the ground right away. I didn't say anything though since I was guilty of doing the same thing. We walked across the street to find that the door on the other side lead to Uppercity North's apartments. As we entered the building, I could hear the faint sound of music coming from the party. I listened to the music to hear where it was coming from. Huh. It sounded like rock music. At least these Sith had good taste.

"The party is in one of these apartments. Shouldn't be too hard to find. You can hear the music from here." Carth said.

"At least it's good music." I replied. Carth chuckled.

"I guess so. Let's find Sarna so she can give us those uniforms." I nodded and we proceeded to the party. Just like the apartments in the southern part of the Uppercity, the building was shaped like a circle and the party was in an apartment on the other side. Like Carth said, the door was open and there were plenty of Sith. I noticed a young woman with red wavy hair talking to an equally young man with black hair. By the man's slurred speech, I could tell he was already pretty wasted. The woman looked at us and beckoned the man to wait and she approached us.

"Hey Carth, I'm glad you could make it. I seriously thought that you weren't going to show up." The woman shifted her gaze from Carth to me. "I suppose this your friend? The one you were talking about earlier in the cantina?"

"Uh...yeah." Carth replied. "Sarna, this is Alexie and Alexie, this is Sarna." I waved hesitantly at Sarna.

"Hi there. Carth's told me quite a bit about you." Suddenly there was crash followed by several excited screams. I looked past Sarna to see what was going on. Apparently the black-haired man tried to open up another bottle of Tarisian Ale but the cork ended up flying toward something fragile. Sarna rolled her eyes and sighed.

"See what I have to deal with? At least getting them piss drunk won't be much of a problem." I looked at the Junior Officers and raised an eyebrow at Sarna.

"By the looks of them, they're already halfway there." I said. Sarna started laughing.

"You've got that right." Sarna turned to face the rowdy crowd of Sith and I noticed that the black-haired man who was now drinking the Tarisian Ale directly from the bottle yelling "This ale's great! We should have conquered this planet _ages_ ago!"

"Careful Yun." Sarna called out to him. "That wine's got quite the kick. A couple of more bottles and we'll all be passed out on the floor."

"Come on Sarna. It's not like we're on duty. Live a little." The man named Yun said as he passed her the bottle. "Come on, drink up." Sarna put the bottle to her lips and took a single swig out of it before giving back to Yun who gladly started drinking out of it again. Sarna turned to me and Carth again.

"I'll have to introduce you but I get the feeling using your real names would be a bad idea. If anyone asks you're names are Luna Darran and Adrian Antilles." Carth and I exchanged glances and shrugged. We followed Sarna into the apartment building as she introduced us to the other Sith Officers who greeted us gleefully despite their drunken states. Carth and I tried to blend in with the others but it was hard to do that without getting completely trashed ourselves. Carth, Sarna and I went our separate ways to get everyone as drunk as possible. There were a couple of groups of guys who were taking turns with the beer bongs and there were even a couple of guys already passed out. I couldn't help but laugh at the realization that this was going to be easier than I thought.

I wasn't sure how long went by before all the Sith Officers were passed out from alcohol consumption, but it was a few hours at the least. I was glad when the it was over because I could feel the alcohol begin to fog up my mind and I was certain I wasn't the only one. Sarna did more drinking than me and Carth drank a little too. I'll admit it was fun watching the young men and women try to hold down their dinners and the alcohol after drinking from one of the beer bongs. Carth's gaze found mine and he raised an eyebrow at me. I smiled and giggled slightly in response, making Carth laugh a little. I'd be lying if I said I didn't drink at all and stayed off the dance floor but I didn't drink all that much and dancing never hurt anyone, plus it was fun. Unfortunately, Carth wasn't having as fun of a time as I was. He ended up having to play referee for a drunken fight between two of the young men. I didn't know what happened exactly since their speech was slurred (I may speak a lot of languages, but drunken man is not one of them), but I guessed that one of the men did or said something to make the other angry and fists started flying. Carth, being the nice guy that he was, broke up the fight between them while all the others except Sarna and I screamed in chant-like unison: "Fight! Fight! Fight!" like it was little more than a playground fight between two school boys. When I was sure the fight was over I continued to mingle and giving young Sith officers more and more drinks which they took happily.

Over the course of the last few hours, the Junior Officers dropped one by one until they were all passed out drunk. I felt bad for them since most were barely out of their teens. I turned them each on their sides so that if they threw up in their sleep they at least wouldn't choke on it. Sarna beckoned Carth and I over to a large yellow backpack. I assumed this was wear all the uniforms were stashed.

"Alright all the uniforms that weren't locked up before the party are all in here." Sarna explained. She squatted down and looked through the backpack. "Let's see here." Sarna looked up and looked at me for a moment, as if analyzing me, and looked back at the pack. "Corana's about the same height and build as you. Aha! Here's her armour!" she exclaimed though it seemed like she was talking more to herself than anything else. She took out a Sith uniform from the yellow backpack and handed it to me. "This should fit you."

"Thanks for helping us out, Sarna. This must be very risky for you." I said. Sarna smiled and waved her hand in dismissal before squatting down again to look through the backpack.

"Don't worry about it. Carth explained that you're looking for Bastila. She's too important for me to worry about getting in trouble."

"Yeah but this is the Sith we're talking about. The trouble you're going to get into involves torture and execution." Carth said worriedly.

"Look Carth, Alexie, I appreciate your concern but this is my choice. I'd rather risk discovery and execution than lose Bastila and the Republic to Malak." Sarna replied with such determination that I just couldn't argue with her anymore. She pulled out another uniform and handed it to Carth saying "This should fit you." We thanked her for her help one more time and we left for the apartment. It was pitch black outside except the street lights which creeped me out. It reminded me too much of those horror vids my brothers made me watch a kid. I was relieved when we finally made it back to the apartment. I immediately grabbed some clothes and entered the refresher to change, leaving Carth to change his own clothes while I was in there. First, I cleaned off the makeup with a washcloth and some water. Then I took off my earrings and placed them on the counter. I could deal with those in the morning. I pulled off my shirt and kicked off my pants, replacing them with a simple tunic and leggings. I pulled off the long gloves I was currently wearing and replaced them with the single leather glove I always wore on my skeleton-like metal left hand. The last thing I did before going to bed was pulling my mess of blonde curls into its usual braid down my back. After leaving the refresher, I found Carth had already changed his clothes and fell asleep. I smiled slightly and shook my head. I turned off the one light he left on and crawled into the other bed. I didn't realize how I tired I was until I got on the bed. No wonder Carth passed out so quickly. It wasn't long before I, too, fell to sleep.

_I am on a war-ravaged world, the bodies of the dead littering the battleground. Some of the dead are Mandalorians while others are the bodies of Republic soldiers and Jedi. I feel really bad about how many of those young Jedi (some of them are just kids) whose deaths I just sent them to but I try to push down my conscience as I stab one the ends of my double-bladed lightsaber through the gut of one Mandalorian in front of me, rip it it out and stab another behind me with the other end of my glowing cyan blade. I see the grenade coming a moment too late and I barely have enough time to get out of the way. I moved away enough so the blast doesn't cause me any serious burn injuries but it still sends me flying. I land on my back, knocking the wind out of me, but I still slide quite a bit and do flip making me land on my stomach. My ears are ringing from the blast and I'm trying to get my breath back as more people from both sides of the conflict are slaughtered. _

First battle and it's already gone to hell_. I think to myself. Some part of me is angry. _

These as people depend on you. They see you as a leader. Act like one._ I tell myself angrily. I decide it's time to grow up and stop acting like a child and start acting like a war leader. I get to my feet and my heart beat starts to race in fear as I see a young man with a bald head and blue strip tattoos on it and hazel eyes be surrounded by Mandalorians. By the looks of him, the grenade blast injured him more than it did me. I can't let them hurt him, he's like my brother. I don't think, I simply act. I Force-jump to the group of Mandalorians who are too cowardly to take him on without being injured and I cut off the head of the leader. I stand between the man and the Mandalorians._

_"Anyone else?" I snarl angrily. The Mandalorians hesitate but decide to attack me anyways. I am perfectly fine with that. In fact, I'm looking forward to it. I smile crookedly and proceed to slaughter the Mandalorians._

I woke up with a start but thankfully I didn't cry out. Sitting up in bed, I looked around me while trying to get my breathing under control. My skin was hot and sticky, and my hair was soaked in sweat. It was just a dream. Force, I wasn't used to my dreams being so…intense. There was no way I was getting back to sleep after a dream like that and I could see the sun starting to come up from the window so I got up and went to the refresher to rinse off the sweat. It didn't take me long, only a couple of minutes, and I left the refresher feeling a lot better and finding Carth awake as well. Did I wake him up?

"Hey Carth. What are doing up so early?" I asked.

"I was about to ask you the same thing." Carth replied.

"Bad dream." I answered vaguely. "You?"

"Same." I raised an eyebrow.

"What about?" I asked.

"Nothing I want to talk about." I nodded and left him alone. I didn't want to talk about my dream either.

"Well...we're both awake so we may as well prepare our stuff for the trip to the Lowercity." I proposed.

"And let's not forget the Undercity, which is even more dangerous." Carth finished. I nodded in agreement and we started preparing.

For the rest of the morning, we ate quickly and focused on getting ready for the Lowercity. It wasn't going to be as...quiet as the Uppercity and we would need to be much better prepared. The true preparation was for the Undercity and we made sure to pack lots of medpacks, food, water, camp supplies, extra weapons and we even wore some light armour under our Sith uniforms. It was awkward wearing two sets of armour but we wouldn't have to wear both sets for long. Just long enough to get past the guard. When we were as ready as we could possibly be, we put on our Sith uniforms and exited the apartment. As we left the building, we were instantly soaked by the heavy rain that was falling. Not that I minded. I actually enjoyed the rain. I couldn't see Carth's face so I wasn't sure if he minded the rain but I had a feeling that he didn't have the same feelings about rain that I had.

We walked through the streets of Taris, the locals looking at us with a mixture of fear and suspicion or not at all. I didn't know where the elevator was but I was getting a bit of a mental map in my mind thanks to all this walking around. We went to Uppercity North where I managed to get some drunks not to pick a fight with us and even screamed at some old man who was spouting anti-alien banthashit. He was friendly with us at first because of the Sith armour we wearing but got angry when I called him an ignorant bastard after he called aliens vermin. To be honest, the only thing keeping me from kicking his ass was Carth's hold on my arm and him reminding me that this crazy kook (his words not mine) could cause us a lot of trouble. We took a right turn in the direction of the elevator to the Lowercity.

"Another patrol headed down to the Lowercity, eh?" queried the elevator guard.

"Yes, that's us." Carth replied.

"Just be careful down there. Those damned swoop gangs will shoot anything that moves. Including us." the Sith guard warned.

"Don't worry Soldier. We'll be cautious." I said. The guard unlocked the elevator and beckoned us to pass. I nodded tightly at the guard and he saluted us before he entered the elevator. I had a feeling that the real action was just beginning.

**A/N: Yes that was Malak in Alexie's dream**


	8. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars or Kotor**

The elevator stopped in Taris' Lowercity. I was a bit nervous about passing the Sith Guard and I was quite surprised that he actually believed that we were just a Sith patrol. As the elevator took us down to the Lowercity, Carth and I took off our Sith uniforms and put them in his pack. Never know when we might need them again. We both wore simple combat suits though Carth had a grey military suit in his backpack somewhere. The elevator stopped and the doors opened in front of us. We stepped out of the elevator and on Lowercity territory but we right away witnessed a fight between two alien groups.

At first, the one group called the Black Vulkars was simply just insulting the other group that they called the Hidden Beks but it quickly escalated to violence. I guess these were the two swoop gangs that were at war. I wondered why? Were swoop racers really that cutthroat toward each other? The Hidden Beks put up a good fight but the Black Vulkars slaughtered them. One the Vulkars spotted us and raised his vibrosword.

":You strangers aren't getting out of here alive.:" he said in his language. I sighed. Why is everyone trying to kill us? I shot the Vulkar that originally picked a fight with us in the chest but there were plenty more where that came from. What gave us a lot of trouble was that most of the Vulkars that engaged us in combat were melee fighters coming at us with swords. Blasters wouldn't help much in close combat. Carth and I got separated, too focused on our own little group of Vulkars that were surrounding us. I shot a couple in my group dead but one of the Vulkars got too close and his vibrosword cut the blaster in my right hand in two, rendering it useless. I shot another right between the eyes with the blaster in my left hand and I noticed a vibrosword cut through the glove on my left hand. That would have been a deep cut if my hand wasn't cybernetic but the force of it sent my other blaster sprawling far away from me. With no weapon in hand, I automatically crouched into a defensive stance and closely observed my opponent for any weaknesses. The Vulkar charged at me with his vibrosword but that ended up with my knee in his gut and my elbow in his back. I looked over at Carth who had just shot his last enemy right between the eyes. I gave him a thumbs up and looked for a blaster to kill the last Vulkar that attacked me with. Suddenly, I heard a blaster shot come from behind me followed by a thump. My head whipped around and I noticed the body of the Vulkar, the blaster shot in his skull still smoking slightly and I looked over at Carth who was standing with one of his blaster pistols pointed at the spot where the Vulkar was. Right behind me. Bastard was sneaking up on me was going to kill me from behind. I walked over to the body and gave it a slight kick. "Coward." I grumbled. Carth walked up to me with a smile.

"So, what's the score? Two-One?" I shook my head.

"Not for long, Flyboy. Not for long." I paused for a few moments. I remembered that I wanted to see if one of the swoop gangs would be willing to help us find Bastila and get off this planet. "Is there a cantina around?" I asked.

"The Javyar's cantina is close by. Why?"

"We'll if there's anywhere where we can find allies it's there. Especially if we want the aid of one of the swoop gangs." I explained.

"Good point. The Hidden Beks are the ones to talk to. Brejek from the Vulkars is unreasonable but Gadon from the Beks is much nicer and might even be willing to help us." Carth said.

"Then let's find Gadon."

Carth and I left for the Javyar's Cantina, picking up my blaster while we were at it, and entered the Lowercity's cantina. I found myself relaxing a bit here in the Lowercity because of the lack of Sith troops. They probably passed through here but they hadn't completely taken over like in the Uppercity. The Rodian bouncer didn't really pay attention to us as we passed through the door but he still gave us a warning not cause any trouble. I had a feeling that he said that to everyone though.

The cantina in the Lowercity may have looked almost identical to the one in the Uppercity but the atmosphere was totally different. The first difference I noticed was the music. The music in the Uppercity's cantina was softer and less harsh, while the Lowercity's cantina was currently playing Grunge music. The second difference was the people. In the Uppercity's cantina, the only aliens to be seen were Twi'lek women and they were only there because they were dancers. The other patrons were all human. Rich humans, I might add. Here in Javyar's cantina, they're were only a couple of humans including us. There was a variety of people here and many different alien species from Twi'leks to Transdosians and I even spotted a Wookiee.

I noticed a really short human man (even I was taller than him by a couple of inches) who was wearing goggles and a blue jacket sitting at the bar with his drink. As he got up from his seat at the bar, he was approached by a Rodian and a Twi'lek.

":Excuse me, are you Calo Nord?:" asked the Rodian in his language. The man took a while to answer but his expression didn't change. Calo Nord? As in the famous bounty hunter? I wondered what a bug-time bounty hunter like Calo would be doing on Taris during a Sith quarantine?

"Go away." said Calo, his voice low and frosty. The Twi'lek man scoffed.

":Bah! I told you this guy wasn't Calo Nord. Calo is supposed to be tough. This guy's just a runt.:" he snapped in Twi'leki. Calo didn't look impressed but he kept his calm demeanour that made him intimidating despite his short height.

"One." he said.

":Why are you counting, Calo?:" the Rodian looked at the Twi'lek man. ":He's probably counting how many of us there are against him.:"

"Two." said Calo in a warning tone as he held a grenade hidden in his hand.

":Ha! We could take this guy easy.:" boasted the Twi'lek man.

"Three." said Calo coldly as he threw the grenade at them. Carth and I took cover and covered our ears with our hands. We exited our cover and saw Calo brazenly walking out of the cantina. Not wanting any trouble, we moved out of his way as he strolled out of here. Carth and I exchanged nervous glances and decided that we needed to proceed despite our anxiety. I wasn't surprised to see that patrons had gone back to business as usual. They were probably used to people dying in the cantina.

As as we searched the cantina for members of the Hidden Bek gang, something caught my eye. Sitting alone at a one of the old, worn out tables a blue-skinned Twi'lek girl who looked like she had only just entered her teen years. Since when did cantinas let in kids? Before I could approach her, the girl was approached by two Rodians dressed in the same outfit as the Vulkars who had tried to kill us. I had my hand on my blaster, ready to take them on if they hurt her.

":What are you doing here, Little Girl?:" said one of the Rodians. ":Little Girl should not be in bar. Little Girl could get hurt.:" The Twi'lek girl looked very irritated with the Rodians.

"Don't call me "Little Girl." I've taken out plenty of you Vulkars, now I suggest you two Greenies just hop on out of here." replied the Twi'lek girl while waving her hands away from her quickly in a shooing motion. I was surprised to hear her speak Basic. Most Twi'leks spoke their native language of Twi'leki or, as sometimes was the case with Twi'leks, Huteese.

":Little Girl has a lot of nerve. Little Girl will get herself killed one day.:" said the other Rodian. The Twi'lek girl rolled her eyes irritably.

"Just a sec boys." The girl looked over to the Wookiee who was contently eating some food. "Zaalbar, can you come over here for a minute. I need you to pull the legs off some insects."

":But I haven't finished with my food. I've been waiting for them to bring my food for a while.:" said the Wookiee that the Twi'lek girl called Zaalbar.

"You can finish your food later. There are some Vulkars for you to deal with." The Wookiee reluctantly left his plate of food and stood beside the Twi'lek girl who I assumed was his friend. The Rodians immediately backed off at the appearance of the Wookiee. I couldn't really blame them. An angry Wookiee was something that no sane person would want to deal with.

":Our problem is not with Big Wookiee. Our problem is with Little Girl.:" said one of the Rodians with a fear that was no-so-carefully hidden.

"If you have a problem with me, then you have a problem with Big Z. Now how about you leave us alone like I told you to _last_ time?" the girl phrased the sentence like a question but it was clear in her tone that she was not asking. The Rodians glared at her but they walked away.

Carth and I exchanged glances and we approached the Twi'lek girl. She noticed us and smiled.

"Hey, I don't recognize you and I know pretty much everyone in the Lower City. I guess this makes me your official welcoming committee." the girl said. I couldn't help but smile.

"It's refreshing to meet someone who isn't trying to kill us." I said.

"Don't worry about those Vulcars. They like to act tough, but they're really just cowards." the Twi'lek girl replied bitterly.

"You handled yourself pretty well against those Vulcars, kid." Carth cut in. "You got a name?"

"The name's Mission Vao." the girl introduced. She suddenly gestured to the Wookiee whose name I assumed was Zaalbar. "And this big Wookiee is my best friend Zaalbar. I know what you're thinking; how did a Twi'lek and a Wookiee become best friends? But trust me when I say this: with my street smarts and his muscle, we're the prefect team." For some reason, that sounded extremely familiar and it gave me the warm and fuzzies. I suddenly got an idea. Mission may have been young but she seemed very knowledgeable and I felt that I could trust her.

"Mission, can I talk to you alone?" I asked in a hushed voice.

"Uh...sure." Mission replied uncertainty in her voice. We walked over to a quiet corner. I looked over both my shoulders to make sure the wrong ears weren't listening in and spoke to Mission.

"My name is Alexie Degana and the man I'm travelling with is named Carth Onasi. We are soldiers with the Republic and we crashed here. We're looking for our commanding officer, a woman named Bastila Shan. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?" I explained. Carth was looking at me like I've gone insane but I was sure that we could trust Mission. The teenager looked thoughtful but she didn't look like she was going to turn us in.

"I heard that the Vulkars captured a Republic officer. You're definitely going to want to talk to Gadon. I can take you to his base if you want." Mission offered. I smiled.

"Thanks Mission."

"No problem. Hey Zaalbar, we have to go." Mission called out to the Wookiee. Zaalbar did not look impressed.

"But Mission, I haven't finished my food yet." The big Wookiee whined. Mission sighed audibly.

"You can finish your food later. We're doing something _important _here." Zaalbar reluctantly put his food down and we followed Mission out of the cantina. She lead us a little bit down the street to a door guarded by a dark-skinned woman with close cropped hair.

"Hey, you can't go in there!" the woman snapped.

"Calm down, Rina," Mission stepped in. "They're friends. They won't hurt Gadon." Rina sighed.

"Fine," Rina glared at me and Carth. "But I'm watching them." Mission smiled.

"Thanks Rina." Mission turned to us. "Well...Big Z and I have to go. We're going to down into the sewers in the Undercity." Mission told us. She must have seen my expression because she said: "Don't worry, we do this all the time, besides, I can take care of myself."

"Ok, fine, but be careful." I said as Mission and Zaalbar started to walk away. Mission turned her head and started laughing.

"Yes _mom_," Mission teased. I rolled my eyes playfully at the Twi'lek.

"Good-bye Mission." I said and she left with her friend. Rina beckoned us to enter while also making it painfully clear that she wouldn't tolerate any funny business. Was the situation with the Vulkars really that bad?

Rina lead us into the base and beckoned us to stop with her hand. She walked over to a dark-skinned man with strange eyes that I made a mental note not to say anything about. After about two minutes and a lot of arguing, Rina walked up to us and told us that the Twi'lek woman was reluctantly letting us talk with Gadon. She said that Gadon trusted us but the woman (I think Rina called her Zaerdra) did not. I suppose I couldn't blame her with the gang war and the Sith quarantine going on.

Rina left and went back to her post as guard while Carth and I approached Gadon and Zaerdra.

"Uh...Gadon?" I asked.

"Ah, I heard you're friends of Mission's. So what do you need to talk about?" Gadon replied.

"And make it quick so you can leave." Zaerdra cut in. Gadon turned to her and gave a glare.

"Zaerdra, be polite. They aren't with the Sith, I'm sure of it. Anyway, what's this about?"

"We don't mean to bother you Mr. Thek but we are Republic Soldiers from the Endar Spire and we're looking for our commanding officer. Her name's Bastila Shan and we were hoping you could help us find her." Carth explained. Gadon scratched his chin in thought but Zaerdra cut in.

"We've heard of this Bastila." Zaerdra began. "Brejek sent his Vulkars to salvage what they could from the escape pods. I heard they're keeping a survivor captive so can sell her into slavery. She's the prize for the winner for the Taris Season Opener." The twi'lek explained. Gadon nodded in agreement.

"I'm sorry, but the only way you're getting her back is if you win the swoop race." Gadon added. Our faces fell and we exchanged worried glances. How were we supposed to get her back _now_? Maybe we could break into their base and break her out?

"There is a way to get her back though." Gadon said with a look of excitement on his face. I folded my arms across my chest with an eyebrow lifted.

"We're listening..." I drawled.

"Brejek stole our prototype accelerator and if you could get it back for us, you could race for us and get Bastila back." Gadon explained.

"Do you have a plan for getting us into the base? There's no way Brejek and the Black Vulkars will let us walk in through the front door, and hand over the prototype accelerator." Carth pointed out. Hmm...he _did_ have a point.

"The front door's guarded and locked up tight, but there _is_ a back entrance. It's somewhere in the sewers of the Lower city and none of us actually know where it is, but we do know who might." Gadon told us while Zaerdra looked incredulous.

"You're not dragging _Mission_ in to this, are you? She's just a kid!"

"She's the only one who's explored the sewers on a regular basis!" Gadon argued. Zaerdra grumbled something under her breath but said no more.

"Wait...did you say that Mission explores the sewers all the time?" asked Carth looking worried.

"Yeah. She and Zaalbar like to stir up a little excitement. Don't worry, she's perfectly capable of taking care of herself." said Gadon.

"Yeah, I figured. Anyway, we'll be going. We need to find that accelerator." I stated.

"Wait!" Gadon called as he handed us some papers, like actual papers written with ink and everything. "You'll need these. They're Sith security papers. The guard at the Undercity elevator is much stricter the one in the Uppercity and the uniforms won't work on him. If you give us the uniforms, we'll give you the security papers. Besides, with the papers, you won't need the uniforms anyway." Carth gave the swoop gang leader a suspicious look.

"Why do you want the uniforms anyway?" he asked.

"They might come in handy if the Sith kick down our down our door." Gadon explained seriously. I handed Gadon the uniforms and they gave us the security papers. With that done, we went to the elevator to the Undercity. Not surprisingly, the streets were packed with Vulkars that tried to kill us. Key word:_tried_. We defeated those Vulkars pretty easily and we managed to get passed the guard with the security papers just like Gadon said he would. We entered the elevator and went down the Undercity.


End file.
